“Epstein Was A One-Man Intelligence Operation”

Yesterday, I had a terrific conversation with “Mo” – Mosheh Oinounou – creator of the uber successful Mo News brand, here and on other platforms.

We talked about my experience of dealing with Jeffrey Epstein in 2002, when I was working for Vanity Fair, before Epstein was a bold-faced name. I also focus on how these latest documents show what a brilliant manipulator he was, not just of young women and girls, but also of wealthy men interested in his vast network and the insider knowledge of markets and much else he could give them. But what this latest tranche of Epstein files also has shown is surely that very few of them can plausibly deny knowing what Epstein was up to in his private life.

I also talk about what’s missing from the Epstein timeline in the Department of Justice document releases. An addendum on this: I mention that I couldn’t find anything on Epstein’s one time beneficiary Les Wexner. But I now see that according to the New York Times, there’s a draft email from Epstein to Wexner that is both threatening and emotional, harking back to when “You and I had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years,”. A spokesman for Mr. Wexner told The Times that he never received the letter, and that it “appears to fit a pattern of untrue, outlandish, and delusional statements made by Epstein in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.” He and Epstein reportedly severed ties in 2007 shortly before Epstein went to jail in Florida.

But Epstein’s language triggers memories of allegations made by a local journalist, Bob Fitrakis, who maintained to me, both in 2002, and years later when I made the podcast and docuseries, Chasing Ghislaine, that the kind of control and influence that the Wexner/Epstein partnership was wielding was indeed mob-like. Fitrakis mentioned the expansion of New Albany’s huge development project in Ohio, as an example. And also the alleged use of planes to ship lingerie that were previously linked to Iran-Contra arms smuggling. He even referenced the murder of lawyer, Arthur Shapiro, who represented The Limited. I thought some of this was a little far-fetched at the time…now, of course, nothing seems completely off the table.

I get into why I think President Trump is not so much embarrassed by the Epstein Files as ticked that they are a bigger story than he is; and why it’s unlikely Epstein was working for the CIA or Mossad, as conspiracy theories have suggested. Epstein didn’t need to be an asset for a foreign government. We can see from the emails, that he had tentacles into the leaders of countries all around the globe. He was his own intelligence operation, all by himself. Not an entirely dissimilar business model from that of Robert Maxwell, father of Ghislaine, who traded information between multiple governments.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Here’s Epstein’s Written Screed To Me Regarding Maria And Annie Farmer

I was trawling through the Epstein Files last night and I stumbled on the fax Jeffrey Epstein sent to me back in December 2002, regarding questions put to him during our fact-checking process at Vanity Fair about allegations of abuse by Maria and Annie Farmer. (Earlier this week, I showed you the missive he sent to Graydon Carter, my boss at the time, also trashing me. And, as we know, it was effective. Without consulting me, despite everything I’d gone through with Epstein, all the harassment and threats to me and my unborn children, the Farmers were cut from the article, and were left exposed to the predators they’d tried to expose. It was ghastly. I note that in his uber-boring memoir, Carter makes no mention of the fact that Epstein came to visit him in his office at this time.

But, at least the latest tranche of Epstein Files has vindicated my version of events. In subsequent years, Epstein regularly refers to Graydon in emails as someone he believes to be on-side.

Here’s Epstein’s garbage invective – sent to me during our fact-checking process. The redacted names are those of Maria and Annie Farmer.

Read the rest of the article on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Omissions, Redactions, Maxwell’s Role And More…Julie K. Brown And I Talk About The Epstein Files

Thank you all for tuning in for a great conversation with Julie K. Brown who wrote the Miami Herald’s excellent series “Perversion of Justice”, which was critical in getting the Justice Department to finally focus on Epstein’s crimes – and then those of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Our 30 minute chat, above, touches on the things that we have round striking about this latest release of Epstein files.

Julie’s been interested in the highlighting of Maxwell’s role in Epstein’s crimes, something she thinks most people still don’t really understand.

We are both curious about redactions, omissions, pages suddenly pulled from the site.

I’m wondering why there isn’t more on Les Wexner, Epstein’s benefactor for so many years.

And I also wonder why Melanie Walker’s name is redacted. She’s the Epstein protege who went on to become a neuroscientist, a World Bank board member, and the partner of Steve Sinofsky, the former number two at Microsoft. As I reported for Rolling Stone, she talked up Epstein in Gates’ world. So, Gates’ advisor, Boris Nickolic went to meet with Epstein after he got out of prison. And Nikolic, in turn, suggested Bill Gates meet with him. Something, one suspects, Gates is no longer grateful for, given the draft email that’s just turned up in the finals and whose contents he has robustly denied.

We get into the role that the victims’ lawyers have played in a larger context; we anticipate Maxwell will plead the fifth amendment next Monday when she testifies to Congress. And we take a wager on whether or not Trump will pardon her when he leaves office.

That, and much more.

Watch!

Breaking News From The Courts: Mangione; Maduro; Kelly; Powell; Noem And More

There’s no one who has better insight as to the nitty gritty of the court cases across the country than Adam Klasfeld of All Rise News.

Last night we went through the big cases on the dockets right now.

There’s breaking news in the Luigi Mangione case, which of course, is the topic of my next book with James Patterson: In the Federal case, in which the death penalty is on the line, the Hon. Margaret Garnett changed her mind over the weekend, and now wants to hold a brief evidentiary hearing in the next two weeks about police procedure in Altoona, Pennsylvania (Mangione was arrested in a McDonalds in the town). In her minute order she has said that she just wants one witness from Altoona to explain police procedure when it comes to “securing, safeguarding and inventorying the personal property of a person arrested in a public place”.

A reminder: this is because Mangione’s defense is arguing that the Altoona police illegally searched his backpack in the McDonalds without a warrant, when it was six feet away from him. Further, they argue that the way they inventoried his stuff inside the station was improper, partly because, again minus a warrant, a policewoman opened Mangione’s journal and read some of it.

The most startling thing, though, to me was that at the end of Friday’s court hearing, both legal teams raised the topic of prospective trial dates with Judge Garnett. I had been under the impression that the State trial was going to precede the Federal one, but it seems that State is moving much more slowly.

So, it’s possible we may get a trial in federal court this year, if Judge Garnett takes the death penalty off the table. (That was the issue for Friday’s hearing. The defense is arguing that counts three and four – which is murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense respectively – should be chucked out because they rely on a federal interstate stalking statue as the predicate, and the defense argues it isn’t applicable here, because Brian Thompson never knew he was being stalked. It’s a very technical argument, that went above the heads of many people in the courtroom.)

If Judge Garnett leaves the death penalty on the line, then we still could have a trial late in the year, or in January. So I am already gearing up to cancel Christmas this year!

Adam, meanwhile has been focused on Sen. Mark Kelly’s lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which Sen. Kelly is asking a judge to block Hegseth’s efforts to strip of his retirement benefits after Kelly took part in a video with five other lawmakers, reminding people not to follow Illegal orders. This was in the wake of Hegseth’s order to a naval captain on a drugs bust to blow survivors out of the water in the Caribbean. Adam says that suit will be heard this week.

Then there’s the back and forth between lawmakers and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. After the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, many members of Congress showed up to visit ICE facilities over the weekend but were denied access. Noem was pushing back on a court order that expressly required ICE facilities to be open to congressional visits, saying a week’s notice was required. Now rep Joe Neguse of Colorado has filed suit against this – and back to court Noem’s reps go.

And then, there’s the extraordinary video made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell in which he revealed he’s under federal investigation because, in his view, he didn’t set interest rates as low as the President wanted.

All this before we touch on the arraignment of Nicolas Maduro and the legal challenges in that case.

I always learn so much talking with Adam.

There’s so much detail in each of these cases that you don’t get from newspaper reports.

So, if you have the time, please do watch our conversation.

I won’t see you this Wednesday due to unavoidable commitments. But I shall be back next week.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Venezuela Presents A Challenge For Marco Rubio

First: I apologize for my stinking cold.

Second: Joel Rubin who was the legislative affairs liaison to the House for John Kerry, Secretary of State under Obama, John Kerry, really knows his Foreign Policy.

Earlier today he wrote a fabulous substack: a five-point guide for the Trump team to avoid screwing up the next chapter(s) in Venezuela. And that’s what we discuss in our live video chat. Essentially his message is this: the only way to create stability, is to let Venezuela – not us – be the primary beneficiary of its oil; We need to partner with the country’s leadership and law-enforcement to help stop drug-trafficking; we need to help restore democratic governance; we need to build partnerships in the entire region; and we need not to crow while doing any of this…our adversaries are watching.

So, a lot hangs on the shoulders of Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who drove the momentum for Nicolas Maduro’s capture and who is doing the talking with Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez.

Given Rubio’s personal history, it’s unlikely he wants to topple an autocracy, just to replace it with another autocracy. But we’ve seen that his boss seems focused on getting the oil, not altering the country’s governance.

So, it looks as if Rubio is going to have manage up at home as well as with Venezuela’s leaders if he wants the toppling of Maduro to make the meaningful difference he surely hoped for. That’s going to be quite the juggling act.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Why What Happened In Venezuela Will Likely Put Pressure On Putin…

Readers of this newsletter and of Mikhail’s The Last Pioneer will know that we have talked about the possibility that the US would put boots on the ground in Venezuela for months.

As Mikhail points out: we weren’t talking rubbish! He was hearing from his sources in Moscow that there was anxiety inside the Kremlin that America was serious in its bid for regime change in Caracas. I was hearing the same thing from US sources who were very close to last night’s military operation. (I reported in depth on Venezuela when I was at CNN in 2019 and 2020 and I have remained fascinated by the politics in and around the country since then).

The reason behind our particular focus: the price of oil and Russia’s dependence on it. As Mikail explains here, Putin is operating on the assumption he can ultimately get the sanctions on Russian oil eased. But if, under American operation, Venezuela’s oil supply – and its reserve – become plentiful, well then, the entire market shifts – and Russian oil becomes much less valuable. (Mikhail points out it is already trading at a steep discount).

He also points out that Putin and the Kremlin have been uncharacteristically silent about the events of last night. Why?

If Russia’s economy is weakened, well, obviously that’s a very big deal for Ukraine….

When we hear what Putin has to say about Maduro’s ousting – we’ll be back with more reporting.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

“What Did Trump Talk To Putin About For Two Hours, Given Putin Doesn’t Want Peace?”

Hey Everyone,

As you’ll hear in this conversation with my friend the Russian journalist-in-exile and fellow substacker Mikhail Zygar, New Year’s Eve is by far the biggest holiday in Russia – a time in which “magic” can happen.

It is sorely needed.

Mikhail and I chatted at lunch time, minutes after President Trump got off the phone from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for their second long conversation in 24 hours.

Between those calls, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and afterwards reportedly said he felt talks had gotten “90 per cent” towards a peace deal.

But just hours later Putin accused Zelensky of orchestrating a drone attack on one of his residences – which Zelensky denied. He accused Putin of making the false claim to deliberately sabotage the peace talks. Meanwhile Russia continued its march into Ukraine territory. And Putin and Trump had another long phone call.

So much for being “90 per cent” of the way towards peace.

Mikhail’s perspective on all this is, as usual, invaluable.

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

“The Same People Keep Meeting And Nothing Happens!”

It’s been a while since Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar, author of The Last Pioneer, and I caught up.

I’ve been sitting in a courtroom listening to the pre-trial hearings in the case of Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, for what feels like eternity, even though it’s only been three weeks.

The headlines regarding talks with Russia and Ukraine seem to be the same as they were when the hearings began.

Jared Kushner has entered the fray. He and Steve Witkoff will be meeting this weekend with Russian counterparts in Miami. This follows meetings with the Ukrainians; more meetings with Russians; and so on…

It feels a bit like groundhog day – and, according to Mikhail it is! Unless, he says, the US invades Venezuela, which is, reportedly, what Tucker Carlson is either prophesying or threatening…

The price of oil is the one thing that might pressure Putin to do…..something. Otherwise, says Mikhail, he has no incentive to stop the war. The war is the mechanism by which he is able to control his country.

Mikhail also explains that when Putin described the European leaders, Ukraine’s allies as “piggys’ or “little pigs” the insult was worse than might be realized by Westerners.

And he gets into the court case that has got Russians all riled up against the judicial system….

And much, much more!!!

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Adam Klasfeld And I Chew On The Luigi Mangione Pre-Trial Hearings

Thank you, as always to Adam Klasfeld of All Rise News, for a great conversation!

Watch the full conversation on Vicky Ward Investigates.

Take-Aways From The Luigi Mangione Hearings

Hey Everyone,

Apologies for the silence this week. I’ve been busy!

As you know, together with James Patterson, I am writing a book on the murder of United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, who was shot dead in the middle of Manhattan on December 4th last year, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. I’m not going to share any of my exclusive reporting here, obviously, but I will give you my knee-jerk takeaways from the courtroom because what happened there is public.

I was at the kick-off of pre-trial hearings in which Mangione’s defense team is arguing that the contents of Mangione’s backpack (the gun, and the “manifesto” among them) should be inadmissible at trial, because he was locked into conversation with the arresting officers at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, before being read his Miranda rights, and his backpack was searched without a warrant.

Prosecutors are said to be bringing as many as 28 witnesses, which means, if we move at the current pace, these hearings could go on until Christmas.

Last week we saw on video that by the time Mangione was cuffed and brought out to a police car, a staggering total of 14 law enforcement officers had arrived on the scene. Prosecutors are trying to show that this was because the lead arresting officer, Patrolman Joseph Detwiler, had instantly recognized Mangione as the same person whose features were all over the news in the wake of Thompson’s murder, and that Detwiler also knew from (Fox) news that the murder weapon had not been found. In other words, their point is: the Altoona PD doesn’t normally call 14 officers to a scene for a case of a fake id, which is the official reason they were able to detain Mangione.

In court, we are currently watching the scene of the arrest from an assortment of different police bodycams, so while it’s generally fascinating, parts of it are very repetitive.

What this means for me personally, is that a. I will never be able to forget the very unappealing, sterile interior of this particular McDonalds – white tiled walls with a mustard yellow stripe that runs horizontally at the level of Mangione’s head. And b. I keep humming all the kitschy Christmas music that was being piped out while the arrest was going on!

More seriously, my chief thought so far, is this:

Read my chief thoughts so far on Vicky Ward Investigates.